Abstract
This paper discusses the drained static triaxial testing on granite ballast material with different amount of breakdown fouling and water content. Large-scale, 10 in., triaxial equipment was used for this testing program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. These tests were performed to study the effect of fouling and its inseparable associate, water content, on the strength properties and degradation characteristics of railroad ballasted track. Ballast with three different fouling percentages (defined as the ratio of dry weight material passing 3/8″ (9.5 mm) sieve to dry weight of the total ballast sample) from clean to highly fouled ballast (<5%, 15% and 30%) and four water contents from dry to field capacity were tested under three different confining pressures (5, 10 and 15 psi). The results show that although increase in breakdown fouling at dry conditions increases the strength of the ballast, by an increase in water held by fouling material the ballast starts degrading.
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